October is a month of change. We enter into September and it still feels like summer with temperatures still in
the upper seventies and eighties. The leaves on the trees are still green, the corn and the beans begin to change.
But in October, we are full into the change from summer into fall. The beans lose all their leaves and become a
dark brown ready for harvest. The corn stalks dry into a light brown ready for the harvest. The farmers are in
the field. The Lord begins to paint the leaves of the trees with brilliant colors that wow us. The mornings
become a little brisker as there is a touch of coolness in the air. By October, we have found our light jackets
from the closets, and we put them on as we leave the house. Yes, October is a time of change.
Change is a constant as we live through the cycles of seasons of the year and our life. There is a season of
planting the seeds, a season of growth, a season of harvest and a season of winter rest. Life to death. There is a
time when we were born, a time of childhood, a time of growing into adulthood. We leave school and enter into
our vocations of work and family. Some enter into the covenant of marriage, and new families created with
babies enhancing their adventures. Then they too enter their vocations and maybe the covenant of marriage and
children are born, and we experience the joy of being grandparents. Then unfortunately, we lose our parents to
death and suddenly we find ourselves being the oldest generation. Changes come.
Changes come as we experience new technology. I remember when cell phones first came out and many people
were unsure if they wanted one. Now our phones are really cameras and computers with phone functions. We
spend hours a day on our screens, with social media, apps, and asking “Siri” to find answers to our questions.
On our life journey we encounter many changes, but consider the Word of God and the change it creates. The
change we experience in the world is generally from life to death. New technology replaces old. New planting
leads to a new harvest. A child is born and lives and grows until death comes. But God’s Word creates change
from death to life.

When Martin Luther was a young priest, he struggled with the relationship with God, the church was teaching
and proclaiming. The Church was teaching that God is a holy and just judge, waiting for you to mess up and
ready to bring his judgment. Luther sought every avenue he could to find forgiveness and reconciliation with
God, but he found none until he encountered God’s Word. As Luther studied the book of Psalms he encountered
images of God as a loving Shepherd, who heard our prayers and watched over us. Then in the book of Romans
he discovered God’s Word that declared, “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from the works
prescribed by the law.” When Luther read these words, it changed him and his relationship with God. Martin
Luther took his pen and wrote in big letters the word, “Alone”, Grace alone. Martin Luther now understood
God’s grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation and brought God’s word to the church, sparking the Reformation.
God’s Word is powerful and it accomplishes the purpose for which God sends it. God’s Word changes us.
God’s Word, in Jesus and by his authority, finds us as sinners and changes us into saints. Jesus, God’s Word
incarnate, seeks us out as sinners. Jesus finds us in our brokenness and he lifts us up with his love and declares,
“I forgive you. Your sins are no more. I re-create you into a beloved child of God. I give you my righteousness
and you are now a Saint of God.”

God’s Word changes you from sinner to saint. God’s Word changes you from being outside a relationship with
God to being God’s beloved. God’s Word changes you from death in sin, to life in his love, with the gift of
eternal life. God’s Word, Jesus, is present with his love and peace, which is greater than any power of this world
that creates chaos and death. God’s Word brings you into his love.

God’s Word changes everything.

Peace and blessings,
Pastor Stephanie